Three learned experts in their own disciplines made compelling keynoters at DigitalNow. While these keynote sessions set the pace and tone for the program, the multiple concurrent workshops allowed attendees to drill down to the application level with subject matter experts, business strategists, and fellow association executives.

Tim Sanders, leadership coach for Yahoo, departed from his usual topic of transforming Yahoo to focus on associations? ability to drive revenue and growth by increasing participation online and creating an association that forges the future without destroying the past.

Robert Sutton, the second keynoter, co-director of Stanford University Center for Work, Technology and Organization and author of The Knowing-Doing Gap, went a step beyond presenting his expertise in the theoretical characteristics of good leadership. He focused on execution - doing what it takes for associations to succeed in the digital age.

Finally, David Norton, president and CEO, Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, and co-author of The Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps: Turning Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes, showed association executives how to recognize the true assets of their organization.

Work Environment

In terms of importance, a positive work environment is the No. 3 reason why people go to work, according to a survey referenced by Sanders. He encouraged leaders to take a "hard" look at the culture of their work environment and ask: Is it a nurturing environment where employees can give their best? Is recognition commonplace? Do you take the time to mentor others to their full potential?

Speaking from the heart, Sanders challenged the attendees with a digital model: a simple triangle divided into three levels. At the base of was knowledge. While we all have knowledge, it is how we share it that is important. For example, we all have had experience with individuals who keep everything close to the vest. These individuals generally are easily threatened and tend not be good leaders. Sharing knowledge within the organization is a sign of a strong leader and the basis for an increasingly well-developed work group. The second level in the pyramid was networking. An essential part of an organization's success is based on taking time to build, develop, and share in relationships. Finally, the top level of the pyramid was compassion. Leaders who provide an environment in which genuine human interaction is a priority reap rewards.

Sanders went on to say that the Internet is just a channel that allows you to collect - and distribute - massive amounts of information and data. Ideas have very limited value until they are digitized and made available to the masses.

"Smart Leaders Are Exciting; Wise Leaders Are Boring"

This profound thought is a pivotal concept in developing a dynamic work group as well as the overall organization, according to Sutton, whose research indicates that knowing what to do is not enough. Each year more than 2,000 management books are published, $70 million is spent on training, and $60 billion is spent on management consultants. This really points out the fact that there is a problem in management that is not being solved, Sutton asserted.

One of the tenants of digital age culture is that within work groups, mistakes are inventible, Sutton said. But if you create a culture of fear, people will shut down. If the work group only does what they know will be successful, there will be no progress. Futurist David Burrus has often said an organization that is not seeing some mistakes or failures is an organization that is in a status quo situation, not progressing, and will eventually deteriorate.

Another principle of a smart leader is to forgive easily. Only remember the failure as a way for the organization to learn. Leaders who look to assign blame suppress performance. Those who know how to acknowledge a mistake or failure and turn it into a call for action to fix are truly leaders. One of the most difficult duties of the leader is to address the problem of staff members who do not learn from their mistakes or failures. For the benefit of the organization, these individuals need to be counseled, mentored, and closely supervised. Sutton summarized his session with the admonition that the best management practice is sometimes no management at all. People do not do well with micromanagement. His advice: "Get out of the way and let your team work."

The Balanced Scorecard

Norton asserts that an organization must have a philosophy in order to pull the strategies of the organization together. Why? It is impossible to manage something that cannot be described. Organizations tend not to manage strategies for the following reasons: 95 percent of the typical workforce does not understand the strategy; 60 percent do not link strategies with budgets; 70 percent fail to link management incentives to strategy; and an alarming 85 percent of executive teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy.

An organization built on a strategy-focused platform will basically have five sets of practices:

1. Mobilize change through executive leadership, including the board, CEO, and executive team. The style will filter down.

2. Translate strategy into operational terms. The mission and vision statement become the vital link to targets and organizational initiatives.

3. Align the organization to the strategy. Every activity of the organization must be related back to the strategy, goal, and action items.

4. Motivate to make strategy everyone?s job. Ongoing education, discussion, and awareness are vital components throughout all levels of the organization.

5. Govern to make strategy a continual process. Ability to identify each task as part of a strategy places successful outcomes on each individual.

Glen Ramsborg, Ph.D., is senior director of education for PCMA.